Sunday, September 21, 2008

It's finally happened. They said it would but I had my doubts. I mean, there was no proof that it could, and after all this time who could blame me for not believing that it ever would?But it did.Yes, folks: we have had two full days of actual Summer weather (despite the fact that we're well into Autumn!).

And I'm not just talking two days without rain, or two days of sunshine where it looks all warm out there but it's actually too cold to leave the house without a coat.No, this is the genuine thing. Bright sunshine, blue skies and temperatures over 20 degrees - I have worn a T-shirt and open shoes, for goodness' sake!!!

I actually had plans to pack my summer clothes away and haul out all the heavy woollens again this weekend. I had given up all hope of needing short sleeves until next year again. But now that will wait for at least another week.It was bewildering, really - we've been waiting for weather like this for what, two years now? What to do, what to do, when it finally arrives? Do we BBQ? Go to the beach? Go ride our bikes? Go walking? So many choices...!

So I did what any practical person would do: I sat in it.

It seemed a waste to dash around like a mad person so instead I simply sat out in the back yard and gathered all the photons I could until my headache drove me inside and into a comatose sleep... because of course the Universe would conspire for me to be hit with the worst migraine I've had in months on the best weather weekend of the last two years.

Which explains why my first post in two weeks is about the weather: I haven't the mental energy to be any more creative.And also why the title has absolutely nothing to do with the post: I'm on some serious painkillers here, Dudes, so my train of thought is somewhat derailed, hehe!

Friday, September 05, 2008

I was going to tell you about my summer: about the stream of houseguests we've had over last 2 months - father-in-law, mother, nephew, friends, friends' kids - about how our little house has been like the hotel next to Grand Central Station... but I decided not to.

I could bitch & moan about the weather we've had, the flooded roads, the laundry that takes 4 days to dry because of the humidity levels... but I won't.

Instead I'm going to tell you about the really good day I had last Saturday on The Big Dogs Breakfast Run.We left the house around 9am, Hubby and Cinderella on his Blackbird and me on my pride and joy, the GS500. And let's not forget our neighbours - we've become good mates since The Midnight Incident a few months back, due in no small part to our shared love of motorcycles. By 10am we had been joined by another 4 bikes and were heading off into the mountains just south of Dublin.(Not mountains like you'd find in Switzerland, mind you; more like large hills - but the Irish get upset if you refer to their mountains as hills.)

I'll spare you the clichéd twisty-mountain-hugging-roads descriptions; suffice it to say the scenery was really pretty during the moments it wasn't obscured by mist or rain and some of the roads were great for biking. Bikers do love bends, after all. Of course, some of the roads were not so great - there was the freshly tarred bit, only it wasn't so much tar as loose gravel that caused the bike's ass to fishtail at will... needless to say I rode rather gingerly and slowly over that, not caring if I caused a traffic jam. Which it turned out I didn't really - the other guys were just as skittish over the loose stuff.And then there was the really bumpy bit coming down a very steep and very wet road; that was quite hard going and my arms were done for by the time we reached a gentler surface.

But these were only a small part of the 230km ride we did that day[1]. The rest was HUGE fun! And here's the thing: it was the first time I'd done a breakfast run under my own steam. Previously I've always ridden pillion with Hubby. And may I also add here that the other guys were all on much bigger, faster bikes than mine - I may not have been able to catch them on the motorway but I more than held my own on the smaller mountain roads. I was proud. Hubby was proud. Even our neighbour was proud ;-)It's kinda funny really - this run was instigated by Hubby and he christened it THE BIG DOGS BREAKFAST RUN in honour of one of his favourite sayings: If you want to run with the big dogs, don't pee like a puppy.(Yeah, I know, he's real poetic!)